Page 178 of Wicked Promises (Fallen Royals 3)

“Where’d they go?” I whisper.

“They’re giving us privacy.” He taps under my chin, unable to withhold his grin.

In the past few months, both of us have started smiling more. The smiles come freely, with wild abandon. It’s the result of levity after months—years—of guilt and shame and anger.

Claire may have said I was just going from one cage to another, but that isn’t true.

In the end, the truth has opened our doors.

We just need to fly away.

“You remember the apartment?” he asks me.

I frown. “The one in Manhattan.”

He was renovating. It wasn’t just an apartment he got, it was an entire apartment building he bought. And then refinished. I helped him pick out colors and finishes, but every time I asked if it was ours, he said no.

“Yes,” he says. “Well, one became two.”

I suck in a breath.

“It was always our plan to move there, right?”

I squint at him. “It was our plan that we’d both be going to college in the city. Well—that was your plan. Except you got into Columbia weeks ago, and I’m just going to be a fast-food worker, or a receptionist at the company you own, or—”

“Easy,” he murmurs. “You don’t think you got in?”

“Literally everyone has heard about their schools except for me.”

He removes something from his pocket.

An envelope.

I take it, unfolding it slowly.

“This is my mail.” I look up at him. “You know it’s illegal to open someone else’s mail, right?”

He laughs. “Call Masters on me, then.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t have to call him. I’m sure he’ll be checking in on Iris before the night is over.”

He freezes. “What?”

“Nothing. Just young love.” I return my attention to the envelope. My hands are shaking, but I pull open the paper and read it slowly.

I got in.

“I…”

“‘Dear Ms. Wolfe,’” Caleb recites, his eyes burning into mine. “‘Congratulations! We’re pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into New York University.’”

I cover my mouth, choking on a sob.

I thought… I had definitely stowed away any hope, coming up with the worst excuses: they misplaced my application or were so horrified by my personal letter that it wasn’t deemed worth a reply.

But those are just lies my mind made up

“I’m going to college.”